Why Irvine police are sounding the alarm on 'senior assassin,' a popular high school tradition

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Police in Orange County have issued a warning about a game called “senior assassin” in which high school students shoot one another with water guns and gel blasters that can sometimes resemble real firearms.Teenage students running through neighborhoods with realistic water guns may trigger an emergency response, the Irvine Police Department said in a social media post.Those encounters can quickly escalate, posing a danger to students and the public, the Police Department said.The post included a photo of a teen carrying a realistic-looking toy pistol, which was captured by a doorbell camera in 2024, said Ziggy Azarcon, public information officer with the Irvine Police Department.

A resident mistook the toy for a real firearm and called police to report an armed person, he said.Officers responded and referred the teen to the department’s youth services, which consists of school resource officers, he added.

California Students walking out of class to protest against ICE, including in Redlands, face potential punishment -- and much more in some places than in others.There haven’t been any similar incidents recently, Azarcon said, but the Police Department wanted to draw attention to potential risks as graduation season nears.That’s when seniors at seemingly all the local high schools start playing the game, he said.There are different versions but typically, teens organize a group of players and then track down and eliminate one another with shots from a water gun.

The person who remains dry at the end wins; sometimes there’s a pot of money involved, he said.Police want students to have fun and enjoy their final year of high school, but they should be mindful of the type of water gun they use and where and when they use it, he said.If it’s dark, it may be difficult to tell the difference between a water gun and a real firearm, he said.

And when it comes to the weap...